“That explains a few things.” When she raised an eyebrow, he clarified, “You seem at home out here. As if…well, I’m not much of a poet, but you mesh with the land.”
Her pulse kicked up at the observation and she felt ridiculously flattered for some reason. It wasn’t a pretty compliment, the kind most women would expect from a hot guy they’d just met. But Sabrina wasn’t most women.
And Noah Colton was definitely not a run-of-the-mill hot guy.
“Part of the job,” she murmured, because what else was she supposed to say?Thank you for noticing that I’m singularly well suited for the life I’ve carved out for myself here? Good on ya for being more observant than most men?
“No.” His gaze never flinched, and she found herself enjoying the idea of getting lost in it for a good long while. “Those guys are here for the paycheck. You’re here because this is who you are.”
“Got it in one,” she said, impressed and not at all ashamed of letting him know it. “I could say the same about you.”
He inclined his head. “Could you?”
Shrugging, she tried to read the change in his demeanor, but despite having spent the last couple of hours studying him, she hadn’t quite learned enough to understand what button she’d inadvertently pushed. “Sure. I mean, you’ve obviously unlocked expert level on your SAR skills. I’ve been around other teams before, and you’re wearing a whole different set of skins.”
His quick smile added another check in the pro column. “Ah, well, if I’ve achieved master gamer status in your book, that feels like high praise indeed.”
“Don’t you feel like you’re out here making a difference? As opposed to checking off another call?” If she’d missed the mark and Noah didn’t have quite the depths she’d sensed, she’d be very disappointed.
“I do,” he assured her and a shadow crossed his expression. “I’m just not quite used to thinking of this stage of my life as making a difference.”
“Now you’ve done it.” She jammed a hand down on her hip. “You have to tell me everything. Don’t leave anything out.”
“Maybe we’ll save that for our second date,” he said with a laugh.
Well, she did like the sound of that. Enough that she didn’t take offense to him shutting down the personal nature of the conversation. “I didn’t mean to pry.”
“You didn’t. No offense taken here.” He held up a hand. “SAR is my life now.”
“And you’re good at it.” She gestured to his dog, which seemed to be a far safer topic of conversation. “Dancer’s impressive.”
“He’s the best partner I could ask for.” Pride and something deeper colored his voice. “Never questions my judgment, never argues about jurisdiction and works for kibble.”
She laughed, happy they were back on somewhat even ground. “Sounds perfect.”
“Almost.” His eyes locked on hers again, that spark arcing between them. “I’m still trying to teach him to talk so we can hold a conversation. SAR work gets lonely sometimes.”
The words hung in the air between them, no way to mistake the innuendo that he’d deliberately dropped into his tone. They were both interested, and neither of them seemed to be too concerned about hiding it.
Lovely. Lack of pretense shot right to the top of Noah’s list of good qualities.
“How did you get started with Dancer?” she asked, genuinely interested but also not about to pass up an opportunity to continue interacting with this man, given that he’d so nicely dropped the bait in her lap.
Noah grinned. “It was Jacob’s suggestion, actually. I needed a career change, and he knows a guy working out of Salt Lake City. Put us in touch. I started working with his trainer and the rest is history.”
“Sounds like it was meant to be.”
Some things obviously were.
“Officer West!” Bonner’s voice shattered the moment. “Command needs your initial incident report.”
Noah’s expression shifted to neutral as Bonner invaded their little circle for two. Three if you counted the dog, which meant no room for jerkwads with huge egos.
“I heard you, Bonner.” She shot him a scathing glance, mostly because he’d interrupted but also because his face made her skin crawl. “You didn’t need to come all the way over here.”
“Sorry to break up the party,” Bonner sneered, his expression bordering on glee, as if he’d guessed exactly what was going on between Noah and Sabrina and thought it would be fun to put a damper on everything. “Figured you were too busy flirting to give it proper priority, so I thought I’d speed things along.”
“You’re such a big help,” she muttered. If you replacedhelpwithtool.
